Downtown Edinboro Art & Music Fest kicks off today

If you don't hear live music in Edinboro this weekend, you're either not listening or need to get off the John Deere.

Roots music will be everywhere and feature every style you can imagine: blues and bluegrass, folk and country; string bands and square dances; jam bands and singer-songwriters; reggae and zydeco.

The occasion is the ninth annual Downtown Edinboro Art & Music Festival, which opens tonight with an art show and Donna the Buffalo, and continues through Saturday's closing set by Jim Donovan and the Sun King Warriors.

Donna plays festivals across the country, including huge ones. The group recently played North Carolina's MerleFest. Yet, singer-guitarist Jeb Puryear concedes he has a soft spot for Edinboro because it's so intimate. Culbertson Hills is one of the smallest rooms it plays.

"It's as close (to the audience) as you can possibly be," Puryear said. "A lot of times, I'll space out and close my eyes and listen to the music while I'm playing. Sometimes I open my eyes and a person is standing about 16 inches from me."

Donovan, a festival-circuit veteran dating back to his days in Rusted Root, said he likes the family vibe in Edinboro. After leading a drum circle chant and workshop in 2012, he'll bring his seven-member band this time.

"What I like is there are kids there, there are families there, and it's not really pretentious," Donovan said. "I've been to so many festivals where it feels intense, there's like a real hard partying vibe. This is not that. I like how homey it feels. I think it'll be a blast to play."

That homey nature is partly what lures artists and fans back to Edinboro. Jim Avett, the father of Scott and Seth Avett of the Avett Brothers, played the event for the first time in 2012. (His boys headlined in 2006, remember?) He's coming back.

"He loved the whole feel of the festival," said Fred Parker, the event's music chairman. "He's a down-to-earth family man and he recognized it's a good, family-oriented festival and has a good listening crowd. He likes that."

Fans of roots music can't help but like this party; it features top-flight musicians from assorted styles. Sunny, zydeco New York band Blue Sky Mission Club returns, while Driftwood -- which has become a favorite at Crooked I -- drifts in from Binghamton, N.Y. with its zesty, dynamic folk attack that includes violin, stand-up bass, banjo and acoustic guitar.

Performances take place at nine different venues, but Goodell Gardens is becoming the heart of the festival. It'll feature two music stages, including a jam tent, plus an artisans' tent, a children's tent, and six demonstrating artists.

"That has really been a plus for us," Parker said. "It really gives us a place to have a festival that can just take in more people as it grows. They have massive plans for the next two or three years, putting in a whole new amphitheater area with parking. We'll probably use Goodell Gardens more and more in the future. It's just a great marriage, and that's a nonprofit organization, too.

The event includes Saturday workshops, where visitors can learn how to play the fiddle, banjo, how to square dance and more. Like the music performances, those are free.

For Parker, the event succeeds because it fosters community involvement. Hundreds of people volunteer, and music fans turn out not just from Edinboro but surrounding areas, including Meadville, Erie and western New York.

"Basically, having a lot of good volunteers -- certainly that's the big thing" with keeping it going, Parker said. "You've got to have that. And just having town people who have the same enthusiasm as we do. That, coupled with the sponsors and some of the great Erie groups who support the art and music with grants, it's just turned into a good family event."